Jiang Ye suddenly shouted, his face turning extremely grim.
Lao Mo and I both heard it and looked at Jiang Ye with confusion.
But judging by Jiang Ye's expression, this was likely not good news. After all, in our line of work, we feasted on the dead, and walked the path between the living and the dead. Many places had taboos and superstitions. Had Lao Mo's spit touched a taboo in this river?
"Jiang Ye, I just spat out a bit of saliva? Is it that serious?" Lao Mo asked, bewildered.
"Jiang Ye, is there something significant about this?" I also inquired, my gaze scanning the surrounding river surface warily. We weren't, after all, constantly living on the water. Therefore, Lao Mo and I were unaware of some of the taboos.
But as soon as I spoke, the river's flow suddenly became turbulent and violent. Bubbles began to gurgle incessantly, as if boiling, becoming even more agitated. The water ghosts beneath the surface also stirred more restlessly. They seemed to have gone mad, making gurgling noises in the water. In a swarm, they began to swim towards our boat.
At a glance, the river beneath was teeming with swimming water ghosts. Occasionally, a pale white human hand and head would surface. The scene was terrifying, with hands and heads filling the river, making it as eerie as could be. Ordinary people would surely be scared to death. Not far away, two "hua la la" spectral waves appeared. Each wave was two to three meters high, crashing towards our vessel.
Our boat began to rock violently with each wave. Jiang Ye, standing at the bow, held his white lantern. His feet were planted firmly on the deck, and he didn't move an inch despite the boat's pitching and rolling. He looked at the two spectral waves and took a deep breath, saying, "Under normal circumstances, this would be fine. But now, with the water imps surrounding the boat, and a person with an Yin fate on board... they are all here for the living. They're already frustrated at not being able to drag people down. But if we can hold on for a while, they will disperse. However, this spit is the essence of human vitality, containing strong life and Yang energy. Once the water imps in the river tasted it, they would have a sweet success. How could they possibly give up? It will only make them even more ferocious."
Hearing this, Lao Mo and I finally understood. It turned out that spit could provoke these water ghosts. It was like cutting open a blood vessel in a wolf's den. Wasn't that inviting trouble? No wonder Jiang Ye was angry when he saw Lao Mo spit. It was asking for trouble. But what had happened couldn't be undone.
Indeed, the water ghosts in the river had become agitated. They emitted low growls in the water, surging towards our boat. The bottom of our boat was constantly making "dong dong dong, zi zi zi" sounds, as if many people were at the bottom, not only slapping but also scratching... If this continued, wouldn't the hull be breached?
Besides that, a spectral wave was approaching. Within the wave, five or six water ghosts bared their teeth and flailed their limbs, yelping "ao ao ao" in the water as they came with the spray. Jiang Ye, holding the white lantern, simply snorted coldly and said, "Get lost!" With that, he swayed the lantern back and forth at the bow. A purple light, like a flashlight, shone onto the spectral wave. The spectral wave exploded with a "peng" sound. The water ghosts within also let out mournful "wu wu" cries, falling back into the river.
Although more water ghosts had gathered in the river, they were all terrified of the purple light emanating from the white lantern. Wherever the purple light shone, they would retreat in fear. It could be said that Jiang Ye alone repelled over eighty percent of the water ghosts. This showed that Jiang Ye, the river corpse retriever, was not just a reputation. Although Lao Mo and I had some skill, we couldn't effectively utilize it on the water. We could only follow Jiang Ye's instructions, raising our weapons to attack the water ghosts that were slapping at the boat.
Lao Mo also knew he had made a mistake. While he chopped at the water ghosts trying to approach the boat with his peach wood axe, he apologized, "Jiang Ye, Brother Qin, it's all my fault. I've brought great trouble. I didn't know there was such a taboo in the river." Lao Mo was sincerely apologizing. But I certainly wouldn't blame him; we were brothers who had been through life and death together. This was just a small matter, not worth worrying about. It would just mean a bit more effort, and it didn't seem to pose a threat to our lives at the moment.
"We're brothers, why are you saying this? It's a small matter!" I replied. I thrust my sword into the water, killing another water ghost that had reached out to grab me. Jiang Ye at the bow also waved his hand, "Remember! There are many taboos in the river that are different from those on land. Especially blood and hair, they are extremely taboo in the river..." Jiang Ye explained as he dealt with the surging spectral waves. Although there were many water ghosts in the river, densely packed, about a hundred of them, and these water ghosts also stirred up spectral waves, trying to overturn our boat. Our vessel swayed constantly in the water, feeling like it could capsize at any moment, yet it wouldn't.
Furthermore, the three of us were all experienced exorcists. Although the water ghosts were a bit agitated and more numerous now, and seemed to be attacking fiercely, the threat wasn't significant. For the three of us, we could handle it completely. According to Jiang Ye, as long as we persisted for a while, and they couldn't gain any advantage and felt threatened, these water imps would naturally disperse.
However, just then, an unexpected event occurred. A river wind suddenly blew from afar. The dark mist surrounding us was instantly dispersed, creating a passage. As the icy, eerie wind swept past, I shivered all over, as if I had entered the depth of winter. The wind was so cold it felt like it was slicing my face. As this gust of wind passed, the water ghosts gathered around our small boat, constantly trying to ram it, seemed to have seen something terrifying. They all turned around, letting out panicked "wu wu wu" cries, and then swarmed away into the distance.
Hundreds of water ghosts vanished in the blink of an eye. The river surface, which had been turbulent moments ago, and looked like boiling water, instantly became calm. "They're gone, all these water imps are gone!" Lao Mo exclaimed, watching the water ghosts sink to the riverbed or swim away into the distance.
However, I didn't show any sign of happiness. Instead, I looked in the direction from which the eerie wind had come. Under my heavenly eye, I saw a mass of black water at the far end of the river, continuously surging towards our boat. Those fleeing water ghosts must have sensed something, which is why they were scared away. I raised my eyebrows and said in a low voice, "Don't be careless, something more powerful might be coming!"
Jiang Ye, standing at the bow, also nodded at this point, "That's right. Where black water passes, souls flee. It's either an evil demon or a malevolent ghost. It's likely the evil ghost you encountered during the day has come looking for us." Upon hearing this, Lao Mo and I both felt a jolt in our hearts. We looked towards the distant, rolling black water.
We had initially planned to wait for the Water Ghost Hei Tou of Qingshuixi to rendezvous with us, and then join forces to eliminate the evil ghost in the river. This would help Hei Tou reclaim the river mansion and fulfill the promise to Qing Dai. But now it seemed, Hei Tou hadn't arrived yet, and the evil ghost of Qingshan River had come first.